Nigeria

Chiedu Ebie of Nigeria serves as Delta State commissioner in charge of basic and secondary education. A former managing director of Millennium Oil & Gas Company Limited, he has also served as a practicing attorney. Chiedu Ebie’s focus on education led him to support a two-day summit on the topic toward the end of January 2016. The goals of the summit included addressing perceptions of widespread inadequacy in the educational system of the region.

Entitled “Leapfrogging Education in Delta State” and held in the capital city of Asaba, the summit featured prominent speakers such as Pai Obanya, emeritus professor of Ibadan University. The event took place under the chairmanship of Chief Afe Babalola.

The state is home to a three-campus university, a number of polytechnic, 440 public post primary institutions, 6 operational technical colleges and over 1,000 public primary schools. Significant constituencies in Delta State have expressed their desire for an increased build-out of the region’s institutions of higher education. Other participants at the summit said that their focus was more on achieving a higher quality of education than on creating additional infrastructure.

With a law degree from the University of Benin in Benin City, Nigeria, and substantial experience in commercial and corporate law, Chiedu Ebie recently functioned the CEO of Millenium Oil & Gas Company Limited, through which he operated a marginal field in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. Chiedu Ebie maintains membership in the Society of Petroleum Engineers, which organizes the Nigeria Annual International Conference & Exhibition (NAICE). This year, the event will take place in early August at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos.

The theme of this year’s conference theme is “Transparency in the Oil and Gas Business: An Imperative for Energy Security and Stability.” The event will include opportunities for professional networking and to hear speakers with an excellent command of their topic. Additionally, attendees will have the chance to attend several great courses, including Well Reservoir & Facility Management with Akande Adebisi, Petroleum Economics with Professor Wunmi Iledare, and Petroleum Resources Volume and Reserves Evaluation and Reporting with Dr. Saka Matemilola and Osa Igiehon.

Chiedu Ebie is a former lawyer and a substantive managing director and CEO of an exploration and production company in Delta State, Nigeria. An avid soccer fan, Chiedu Ebie supports Manchester United as well as Nigeria, his home country’s team.

Nigeria’s under-17 national soccer team has won the World Cup five times since the tournament’s start in 1985, making them the most successful team in the history of the under-17 World Cup. The 2015 tournament against Mali marked the team’s fifth win.

Though their young players have been extremely successful, the same cannot be said about Nigeria’s senior level team. Not one senior team in Africa has progressed past the quarterfinals in the World Cup. In 2014, only two African teams progressed past the group stage out of the five African teams participating.

Some have theorized that this may be due to the falsification of players’ ages on youth African teams, which was insinuated by Mexico’s under-17 coach during the 2015 tournament. Players on youth teams are also often recruited to play for European teams, who can offer young players large sums of money.

Nigeria’s lack of senior level success may also be due to the dysfunctional management of African teams as a whole. This was exemplified by Nigeria’s federation’s firing, re-hiring, and firing again of national team coach Stephen Keshi. Fans of Nigeria’s soccer teams can only hope that the success of this past year’s youth team can eventually lead to success for their senior team as well.

Currently the commissioner of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education in the Delta State in Nigeria, Chiedu Ebie is also an experienced attorney and business executive. Prior to his appointment into the Delta State Executive Council in July 2015, Chiedu Ebie was the pioneer CEO of Millennium Oil & Gas Company Limited . During that time, he was responsible for the development of the Oza marginal field.

Here are a few commonly asked questions about the field:

Question: When was the Oza marginal field discovered?
Answer: The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria discovered the field in 1959.

Question: Where is this field, and how large is it?
Answer: The Oza field is roughly 20 square kilometers, and is located onshore in OML 11 in present day Abia State in Southern Nigeria.

Question: Who owns the Oza field now?
Answer: Millennium Oil & Gas Company Limited owns a controlling 60% interest in the field. Hardy Oil Nigeria Limited and Emerald Energy Resources Limited each own an additional 20% interest in the field.

Question: How many wells are in the Oza field?
Answer: There are currently four wells, all drilled between 1959 and 1964. The Oza field development strategy includes plans to install an Early Production Facility to enable it evacuate its production vis SPDC’s trunk lines to Bonny export facility.

With more than 20 years of experience working in law, oil and gas, and business development industries, Chiedu Ebie works as commissioner at the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education for the Delta State Government of Nigeria. Prior to this, he spent a decade as managing director of Millennium Oil and Gas Company, Limited, also in Nigeria. A member of several organizations which relate to his employment, Chiedu Ebie belongs to the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).

Established in 1957, the SPE is the largest member organization in the oil and gas industry geared toward scientists, engineers, and managers. Today the group boasts more than 168,000 members representing 144 countries.

To help its members stay connected, the SPE hosts conferences, webinars, forums, and other special events throughout the year. One 2016 event, scheduled for August 2 through 4, is the Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition (NAICE) to be held at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos, Nigeria. With a theme of “Transparency in the Oil and Gas Business: An Imperative for Energy Security and Stability,” the NAICE concentrates on improving oil and gas exploration and production in the region of West Africa. Attendees enjoy networking opportunities, panel discussions, luncheons, and technical sessions.

Chiedu Ebie currently serves in the Delta State Government Executive Council as Commissioner for Basic & Secondary. Having successfully made the transition from the private to public sector, Chiedu has settled down into his duties of implementing the educational policies of the Senator Okowa led administration of Delta State. As as first timer in Government, Chiedu spent the first few months understanding the internal workings of the civil service and more importantly reviewing the educational system in place in Delta State.

Delta State is a one of the oil producing States located in the South South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Over the years, the State has been one of the top revenue earners for Nigeria by virtue of oil and gas deposits. As clearly articulated during the campaigns leading up to the general elections early in 2015, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa made known his desire to transform Delta State and ensure prosperity for the indigines of Delta once elected into office. To achieve this Okowa outlined a five point agenda encapsulated in the acronym SMART which means; Strategic Wealth creation projects and provision of jobs for all Deltans; Meaningful peace building platforms aimed at political and social harmony; Agricultural reforms and accelerated industrialization; Relevant Health and Education policies; Transformed environment through urban renewal”.

The Technical and Vocational Education bill was forwarded to the State House of Assembly within the first few weeks of Okowa’s swearing in on the 29th of May, 2015. This bill is the driving force for the revamping and repositioning of Technical Education within the State. A once fledging sector, over the years, Technical education was neglected and abandoned thereby resulting in a near collapse of the six Technical Colleges within the State.

Speaking recently, Chiedu was proud to State that the State Government had commenced the repositioning of Technical Education beginning with three of the six Technical Colleges in the areas of infrastructural and equipment upgrade, human capacity redistribution and development to be closely followed with the upgrade of the curriculum.